New Zealand Test squad for India series: Rachin returns as Kiwis name 14-man team

Rachin Ravindra returns from injury as New Zealand name Test squad for India series. (BCCI)

New Zealand on Wednesday unveiled a strong 14-man squad to take on India in the two-match Test series starting November 19 in Basin Reserve.

Despite a few injury concerns among his players, Tom Latham will lead a strong contingent in the series pivotal to the making of the World Test Championship (WTC) finalists next year.

While pacemen Will O’Rourke and Ben Sears are missing out due to injury concerns, the Black Caps have added Jacob Duffy as the fifth seam option in the squad. Also returning from injuries are star batters Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway and Tom Blundell. While Conway suffered a concussion due to a collision with teammate Matt Henry during the ongoing ODI series, Ravindra had suffered a freak injury during a promotional ad shoot in September.

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“The squad is largely consistent ‌with the team that competed in England earlier this year, so it’ll be great to be back together to try and recreate some of that success on home soil,” said coach Rob Walter.

“We’ve experienced great crowds so far during the ‌white-ball series and we’re really looking forward to having that ​support during the Tests.”

While the first Test starts next Wednesday, the second match of the series will be played at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch from November 27.

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New Zealand are atop of the WTC standings with a points percentage of 72.22 after six Tests this cycle. Their last series was a 2-1 win over England in June. India, meanwhile, stand fourth on the WTC standings with a PCT of 51.52 after 11 Tests this cycle.

New Zealand Test squad for India series: Tom Latham (captain), Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Jacob ‌Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, ​Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Will Young.

India Test squad for New Zealand tour: Shubman Gill [C], Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul [VC], Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant [WK]*, Dhruv Jurel [WK], Ravindra Jadeja, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.